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The earliest you've ever called in a bull

Cow or bull call? Brush slashing?
Did a mulligan bull or big guy come in?
I've had luck no earlier than late September, but I've heard that others have had success in the first half of September, even in South Central. Color me skeptical.

Cow or bull call? Brush slashing?
Did a mulligan bull or big guy come in?
I've had luck no earlier than late September, but I've heard that others have had success in the first half of September, even in South Central. Color me skeptical.

I called in a 58 inch bull on the 4th of September a couple of seasons ago with raking and grunting. We normally have bulls responding by 7th of September to grunts and raking and I normally start cow calls on the 12th. The bulls are just started to get excited when our season ends on the 15th.

I've called in many in caribou hills in Sept. Of course the later in the month the easier it is. But from the 10th on its generally not too tough to do. Mix of cow and bull cows. Some scraping as well.

Huh, I don't know, I've had bulls responding and even come in to grunts in the last week of August. Twice last year I called a 45" er in to within 30 yds, once in the end of August and the same bull again around Sept 10th. Granted I am not glucking or grunting aggressively, just soft glucking to see if anyone's in the area before moving on. The bull I shot this past week was responding too, not coming in, but responding with light grunts. I'm no expert, but I know what I've seen and what has worked for me.

Cow or bull call? Brush slashing?
Did a mulligan bull or big guy come in?
I've had luck no earlier than late September, but I've heard that others have had success in the first half of September, even in South Central. Color me skeptical.

Do they make moose calls? I've had a student teaching me how to grunt with my mouth, but I'm not comfortable enough yet.

Do they make moose calls? I've had a student teaching me how to grunt with my mouth, but I'm not comfortable enough yet.

I just roll up some birch bark into a cone for cow calls. I use my hands for a bull. An old qt. oil bottle cut off at the bottom makes a noisy scraper (or a shoulder bone). I have used a wet shoelace in a coffee can but never called in a cow with it.

We've had success early - even with mature bulls. Like calling any critter, you have find the right bull. Of course, the later it is, more and more bulls respond. Thankfully some will work early - especially for those folks who hunt seasons that end in mid-Sept. I've had most success with grunting and scraping and tend to go easy the first week of Sept. I also tend to use more cow calls early.

Do they make moose calls? I've had a student teaching me how to grunt with my mouth, but I'm not comfortable enough yet.

You really should get comfortable with it as it works quite well........

Years ago here on the Kenai me and a friend used to "try" and call moose with a string on a coffee can. One year that friend had killed a little spike/fork a week earlier, so we decided to go back to the same area to have another look. We walked all over hell and gone with me pulling on that dang string and got absolutely nothing for our efforts. As it got late we started heading back towards the truck. We approached the overlook where the buddy had killed the little bull and I looked at him, tossed the can to the ground, and with a little grin stretched out my arms like a conductor, cupped my hands to my mouth and gave a "grunt". Immediately a bull grunted back! I looked at my buddy and excitedly said "Did you hear that...!!!???" He said what? I said "A bull grunted back" as I grunted again. This time the bull grunted back and he heard it but said "Was that an echo?" I said "No it's a bull. And a bull it was and here he came. This bull came in hard.....running stomping and grunting all the way. We were on a small cut with a dense wall of spruce on the side the bull was coming from, so we couldn't see a thing. We slowly backed up as it seemed like the bull would come crashing through the wall and stomp us at any moment. But he only came in so far and hung up. Instead, as "dkwarthog" said, the bull started glucking and wouldn't come in any further. I wanted to try and sneak through the spruce to see if I could see him, but my buddy said no you'll spook him. So we waited doing nothing and the bull eventually walked off. That was the last time I ever used the can and string.

In a different area, a week or so later on Sept. 14th I called in a 58" bull with my mouth and killed it. Over the years I've come to realize that early on bulls want to see what the competition is in the area. The soft nasally glucking noise they make is a "I'm here and I want to see you but I don't really want to fight right now" kinda thing . I went back to that spot later on and found that on the other side of the spruce the bull had come into not 75 yards away from us. Unfortunately had I got through that wall of spruce I would have found that it opened up quite a bit on the other side and I probably would have seen him. Had I approached slowly with some of those low glucks and lightly tapped a moose scapula on the trees imitating a bull's horns hitting them coming through thick woods, I may have gotten close enough to get a crack at him.

When I was guiding I've called in big bulls from the first of Sept. on. I only use my mouth but rely heavily on raking. A big moose scapula is my favorite. Aggressive raking really seems to get a big bull going, but can intimidate smaller bulls. BTW Sayak the bull I killed on Sept 14, has heavy into rut. He smelled bad from rolling in his waller, and his neck was wet from it. He came in swaying his horns and digging them into the tundra and throwing it up in the air. It was quite a sight to see. He was a big bull. At 58" what he lacked in width, he made up for in mass. Over the years now I've called in and killed a number of bulls in that same spot and was out there just last night looking for sign. It looks promising this year as I'm hoping the fire pushed a lot of moose into my little hot spot again.....

Sheep hunting...... the pain goes away, but the stupidity remains...!!!

Every unit is different, but here is what I've learned in 30 years of hunting the interior. We usually are in the woods around 5th of September. We typically begin with cow calls to see if there is any interest. If so, its always a bull who hasn't grouped up his cows yet. As the days progress we get very aggressive with bull calls. I like the bull magnet, and use to get the bulls in close, say a mile or so. After that I switch to a plastic jug, the preferred is a Yukon jack bottle that has had the base cut off. I use that to grunt and scrape on alder brush. We also have found that an extremely usefull tactic is very aggressive branch breaking. I'll take the thickest branch from a spruce tree and bust it against the base of the tree. Making a lot of noise. This has worked extremely well. Bulls with cows will respond to this and in an aggressive fashion!! For our area, its really never too early to call.

In 2010 we were hunting our high camp, and saw two big bulls up high. One had 4 cows and the other was alone. One afternoon we watched them walk side by side to an opening at the saddle of the valley, like two prize fighters entering the ring. Once in the middle they started to fight, but not aggressively, more play fighting. the next day we got into position about 500 yards from where we last saw them. I put up the Montana decoy and began aggressively scraping and busting limbs. Within 10 minutes I had 3 cows running down the hill to us. No more than 3 minutes the bull was hot on their trail. We drilled him from 12 yards.

The cows led him right to a fight. They were looking for the biggest bull in the neighborhood, and that aggressive calling led them right there. Just my experience, and limited to interior moose, but its always pays us to be aggressive. I will say that we will stop calling about an hour before dark, as we have called them right into camp. Nothing fun about a pissed off moose in the dark, looking for a fight.

In 1492 Native Americans discovered Columbus lost at sea
_________________________________________________

I have to agree with that. When I guided over in the Mulchatna drainage those big bulls were pretty much always rare'n to go around the 1st-5th of Sept. Sometimes here on the Kenai you'll be lucky to call a bull at the end of Sept.

Even though the declining daylight is what triggers the cows to come round, I think the weather has a big part of how aggressively the bulls respond. I really think they tend to get tired and lay around a lot more when it's warm out. They seem to have a lot more interest when it's cooler....

Oh and again sayak..... I've had mulligans and young paddle bulls never make a noise and just appear out of nowhere when calling about anytime in Sept. I think it makes them curious, but intimidated to come all the way in because I sound like a much bigger bull. I usually rely on hearing a bull so I have to remember to keep my eyes open because I've seen a 36" bull have 3 brow tines.......I guess it could just as easy have 4 sometimes???..........lol.

What gets really funny is when you call in a couple cows that end up standing there about 20 feet from you, looking at you as you grunt and rake.....totally unafraid. I actually thought at one time this cow was gonna let me pet her. I guess she thought I was pretty good lookin'.......

Sheep hunting...... the pain goes away, but the stupidity remains...!!!

Believe it or not, I actually heard a bull grunting one morning in the middle of summer once over in the Stony River area. I have no idea as to why. I never saw it or anything, but I went down to the lake for coffee water and heard him plain as day. What would make a bull grunt in the middle of the summer...???

Sheep hunting...... the pain goes away, but the stupidity remains...!!!

You really should get comfortable with it as it works quite well........

Years ago here on the Kenai me and a friend used to "try" and call moose with a string on a coffee can. One year that friend had killed a little spike/fork a week earlier, so we decided to go back to the same area to have another look. We walked all over hell and gone with me pulling on that dang string and got absolutely nothing for our efforts. As it got late we started heading back towards the truck. We approached the overlook where the buddy had killed the little bull and I looked at him, tossed the can to the ground, and with a little grin stretched out my arms like a conductor, cupped my hands to my mouth and gave a "grunt". Immediately a bull grunted back! I looked at my buddy and excitedly said "Did you hear that...!!!???" He said what? I said "A bull grunted back" as I grunted again. This time the bull grunted back and he heard it but said "Was that an echo?" I said "No it's a bull. And a bull it was and here he came. This bull came in hard.....running stomping and grunting all the way. We were on a small cut with a dense wall of spruce on the side the bull was coming from, so we couldn't see a thing. We slowly backed up as it seemed like the bull would come crashing through the wall and stomp us at any moment. But he only came in so far and hung up. Instead, as "dkwarthog" said, the bull started glucking and wouldn't come in any further. I wanted to try and sneak through the spruce to see if I could see him, but my buddy said no you'll spook him. So we waited doing nothing and the bull eventually walked off. That was the last time I ever used the can and string.

In a different area, a week or so later on Sept. 14th I called in a 58" bull with my mouth and killed it. Over the years I've come to realize that early on bulls want to see what the competition is in the area. The soft nasally glucking noise they make is a "I'm here and I want to see you but I don't really want to fight right now" kinda thing . I went back to that spot later on and found that on the other side of the spruce the bull had come into not 75 yards away from us. Unfortunately had I got through that wall of spruce I would have found that it opened up quite a bit on the other side and I probably would have seen him. Had I approached slowly with some of those low glucks and lightly tapped a moose scapula on the trees imitating a bull's horns hitting them coming through thick woods, I may have gotten close enough to get a crack at him.

When I was guiding I've called in big bulls from the first of Sept. on. I only use my mouth but rely heavily on raking. A big moose scapula is my favorite. Aggressive raking really seems to get a big bull going, but can intimidate smaller bulls. BTW Sayak the bull I killed on Sept 14, has heavy into rut. He smelled bad from rolling in his waller, and his neck was wet from it. He came in swaying his horns and digging them into the tundra and throwing it up in the air. It was quite a sight to see. He was a big bull. At 58" what he lacked in width, he made up for in mass. Over the years now I've called in and killed a number of bulls in that same spot and was out there just last night looking for sign. It looks promising this year as I'm hoping the fire pushed a lot of moose into my little hot spot again.....

My student has given me the ok on my grunt, I just not sure. However, I look for a manufactured way most times even though no one uses something from the store. I got another week and half to nail it down.

Don't think your calls have to be perfect to work. Anyone can scrape a spruce, break a branch or two, and thrash brush.

Exactly. I've heard what I would consider some pretty lousy sounding calls and yet they still work. When a bull will come in to guys snoring in the tent or chainsaws, I guess there's plenty of room for error. Personally I like to get their attention with the grunt and raking, but when they get in close I usually just rake in fear that I might cough or have some sort of break in my vocal cord that might let them hear that something just ain't right.....

Sheep hunting...... the pain goes away, but the stupidity remains...!!!

Don't think your calls have to be perfect to work. Anyone can scrape a spruce, break a branch or two, and thrash brush.

What Antleridge said is true it does not have to be perfect. If you take the time to learn how to call not just make sounds you will bring in more animals (a lot more).

For instance using a can and string or a plastic jug. I'm not saying they don't work it just that there are better thing to use like a moose scapula or your mouth. The can and string makes one sound, there are over six difference sounds a hunter can use to bring in a moose using his mouth. It get interesting when you have two or even three bulls coming in from different directions.